Miriam Makeba, 76, Singer and Activist, Dies [View All]

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Source: NYT

LONDON — Miriam Makeba, a South African singer whose voice stirred hopes of freedom in her own country even though her music was formally banned by the apartheid authorities she struggled against, died early Monday after performing at a concert in Italy. She was 76.

The Associated Press quoted hospital authorities as saying she died following a heart attack after being brought to a hospital in Castel Voltumo near Naples in southern Italy. She had been singing at a concert in support of Robert Saviano, an author who has received death threats after writing about organized crime.

She was widely known as “Mama Africa” and had been a prominent exiled opponent of apartheid since the South African authorities revoked her passport in 1960 and refused to allow her to return after she traveled abroad. She was prevented from attending her mother’s funeral after touring in the United States.

For 31 years, Ms. Makeba lived in exile, variously in the United States, France, Guinea and Belgium. South Africa’s state broadcasters banned her music after she spoke out against apartheid at the United Nations in 1976 — the year of the Soweto uprising that accelerated the demands of the black majority for democratic change.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/africa/11makeba.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin